Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Custom Skins => Topic started by: 5PointOh on November 26, 2009, 12:42:28 PM
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Lt. William Whisner joined the 352nd Fighter Group's 487th Squadron at Bodney, England, in the fall of 1943. He had the great good fortune to study air combat under two men who were to become masters of the art: Squadron Commander Maj. John C. Meyer and Capt. George Preddy, whose wing he often flew.
As with many of the top aces, Whisner's score mounted slowly at first. On Jan. 29, 1944, while flying a P-47, he downed his first enemy aircraft, an FW-190. The 352nd converted to P-51s in April. At the end of the following month, Whisner shot down a second -190 in a 15-minute dogfight against the best German pilot he encountered during the war. The next day, he shared an Bf-109 kill with Preddy; then it was home to the States on leave.
Whisner, now a captain, rejoined the 487th Squadron in the fall of 1944 . On Nov. 2, he downed a Bf-109 using the new K-14 gunsight. On Nov. 21 he led a flight of P-51s on an escort mission to Merseburg, Germany. As the bombers left their target, a large formation of enemy fighters struck. Meyer (now a lieutenant colonel) told Whisner to take a straggler in one of the enemy's three six-ship cover flights. In a linked series of attacks, Whisner shot down four FW-190s in the cover flight and probably got another.
With no more than two -190s left in the cover flight he had attacked, Whisner turned his attention to the main enemy formation, exploding a -190 that had not dropped its belly tank. Evading three -190s on his tail, he shot down another that was closing on one of his pilots. Then, low on ammunition, he joined up with Meyer and returned to Bodney.
Whisner was credited with five -190s and two probables that day. His score later was revised by the Air Force Historical Research Center to six destroyed, making that day one of the best for any USAAF pilot in the skies over Europe. For that achievement, Whisner was awarded his first Distinguished Service Cross--second only to the Medal of Honor.
During the Battle of the Bulge, which started on Dec. 16, the 487th Squadron was moved forward to airfield Y-29 near Asche, Belgium. On New Year's Day 1945, Whisner was one of 12 Mustang pilots led by Meyer that had started their takeoff roll when a large formation of FW-190s and Bf-109s hit the field. In the ensuing battle, fought at low altitude and before the 487th had time to form up, Whisner shot down a -190, then was hit by 20-mm fire. With his windshield and canopy covered by oil and one aileron damaged, Whisner stayed in the fight, shooting down two more -190s and an Bf-109. He was awarded a second DSC for that day's work--one of only 14 USAAF men to be so honored in World War II. (Meyer received his third DSC, the only Air Force pilot to receive three DSCs in World War II.) At the end of the war, Whisner had 15.5 victories, which put him in the top 20 USAAF aces of the European Theater.
Bill Whisner returned to combat in Korea, flying F-86s, and becoming the seventh jet ace of the Korean War and the first in the 51st Wing. Whisner was awarded a third Distinguished Service Cross, the only Air Force man other than Meyer to earn that distinction. He also became one of only six Air Force pilots who were aces in both World War II and Korea. In the post-Korea years, Whisner continued his career as a fighter pilot, winning the Bendix Trophy Race in 1953. After retiring as a colonel, he finally settled down in his home state of Louisiana. On July 21,1989, Col. William Whisner died of a yellow jacket sting.
(http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z235/nathanyoung1980/S2010002.jpg)
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I think you nailed the blue right on. She looks a little too clean and smooth to me, and seems like she's gotta be missing some details, like the screws for the panel sections on the top of the nose, for example, or scratches/dents, etc. I think I prefer a little more contrast in the panel lines - Fencer could tell you whether you got the wing surface right tho.
The 'W' on tail seems too small or short compared to the photo, and I think there is too much spacing between the digits on the tail serial number.
Makes me homesick for the old 352nd Pony-B I had in the game before the 51 was redone - pretty much same scheme with full invasion stripes, etc.
Nice job - I trust it won't be a problem that she had the old canopy style, not the Malcolm hood?
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Just noticed too, that the black invasion stripes on the top of the fuselage don't line up properly with the stripes on the left side - looks like its a pixel or two off...
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It looks like the edge of the blue on the nose goes above the exhaust stacks and meets flush with the bottom of the cockpit glass. Also the fuel cap on the side of the fuselage is in the black paint of the invasion strip. I think the tail numbers are a bit closer together as well.
The nose art text looks very nice and crisp. :aok
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Thank you gents, I have touched up everything you mentioned. I didn't move the blue up real far but it is above the stacks (which I think are to far back on the plane).
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Wing fillets on top of the wing outboard of the star and bar.
Rivets? Especially the larger ones.
Lights.
Trim Tabs.
Look at the star and bar in the photo and look at it on your skin. Note the difference? Seriously. Really I mean it, look at the photo. What are you doing still reading this? :neener:
Note that the metal where the exhaust stacks are, and just aft, is NOT aluminum in color.
I like the Blue, but it is very even. Think about what you can do to give it some depth so it's not so smooth.
The fusalage is aluminum metal in "color". The wing had it's panel lines filled and then was painted grey/silver. The Rudder, Elevators, Flaps and Ailerons are not metal though.
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Also note that the restored Princess Elizabeth is missing the horizontal tail ID bands that it would have had on the real bird.
Tried to find something to illustrate the point. While this is a D model, you can see the tail ID bands and where they fit as well as the width on the D-Day stripes etc.
(http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s199/guppy35/51Top.jpg)
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I wish I could make skins that good.... :( Nice work though. :aok
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Also note that the restored Princess Elizabeth is missing the horizontal tail ID bands that it would have had on the real bird.
Tried to find something to illustrate the point. While this is a D model, you can see the tail ID bands and where they fit as well as the width on the D-Day stripes etc.
(http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s199/guppy35/51Top.jpg)
I thought about that Dan, but I am having trouble finding a good pic of her from the era. Also finding some discrepancies in the tail number vs. what "Little Friends" has in their list. "Little Friends" shows it as: 42-106449 P-51B 487 HO-W Whisner Capt. William T "Bill" Princess Elizabeth Lost 6 June 44 - Lt Robert K Butler -Evaded 5502. I can't even find a 352nd bird with the tail number of 325147, so I might end up changing it to another full D-Day striped plane.
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I thought about that Dan, but I am having trouble finding a good pic of her from the era. Also finding some discrepancies in the tail number vs. what "Little Friends" has in their list. "Little Friends" shows it as: 42-106449 P-51B 487 HO-W Whisner Capt. William T "Bill" Princess Elizabeth Lost 6 June 44 - Lt Robert K Butler -Evaded 5502. I can't even find a 352nd bird with the tail number of 325147, so I might end up changing it to another full D-Day striped plane.
The color photos of the restored bird have that particular Mustang's serial number on it instead of the real Princess Elizabeth. The paint scheme is accurate otherwise beyond the missing tail ID bands.
Otherwise you could do Preddy's original Cripes a Mighty P51B as it had a Malcom hood. Good source info on it out there.
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has no detail.
blah
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Good constructive critism.
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Yeah, he's a real charmer. :rolleyes:
Keep it up Nate, it's coming along nicely.
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Copr,
The skin looks great so far. The only criticism I have is make the panel lines more bold so they stand out. Also, add more detail; like scratches, dents, smoke/oil stains, and God knows what else. Look at Fester's P51D skins and jot down some things that you see. Observe how the panel lines are easy to see- even from a distance. Also, if you look at the 352nd FG skin for the 51D, it should give you some ideas on how much to improve on. That current skin lacks in detail that most planes have today. Id personally hate to see another 352nd skin that lacks the detail that the current one has.
Hope this helps! :salute
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Yeah, he's a real charmer. :rolleyes:
I figured that out. :lol
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Did a little more work to it tonight, increased the opac on the panel lines and rivets, added some light scratches t othe painted wing surfaces, raise wing filets, added some shading to panel by the exhuast stub (can't believe I forgot that on the earlier on), iden stripe on the tail, changed tail number to actual "Princess Elizabeth" listed number, added some light scratches on engine panel to signify R & R, and some shading differences added to the blue areas. I also added a small white light to the leading edge of the wing, but really wish the light was modeled in. I'm sure I'll update some more things as my search for more pictures continues.
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Looking good! I really like the look of the panel section just under the cockpit.
I've started adding scratches to everything - painted or bare metal. Have you checked out Fester's tutorial on panel shading to simulate the metal deformation where the rivets attach the skin to the frame?
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Outstanding work, Copr! Your 51B is coming to life! :aok
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One little nit pick, just because I made the same mistake on a 51 profile I did. The white bars on the star and bar indent on to the blue circle just a little bit. I messed it up on the fuselage roundels in the profile below. The wing star and bar is correct and shows the indent of the white on to the blue.
It's an easy mistake to make.
(http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s199/guppy35/P-51B_Cathya.jpg)
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Dan, you made that profile? I will try adjust it to correspond (I got my star and bar from a sim paint website)
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Dan, you made that profile? I will try adjust it to correspond (I got my star and bar from a sim paint website)
It's my 51C :) I've got templates made for all the Merlin Mustang models. I tweak em as I find out what I've screwed up on. I haven't fixed the star and bar on the templates yet :)
Some blue nosers I did for fun. First real warbird I ever got close to was an unrestored P51C so I'm kinda partial to that version of the Merlin Mustang
Early Pre-D-Day markings. These are fictional btw. Just doing em for fun.
(http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s199/guppy35/ODBmodel.jpg)
October 44 or so.
(http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s199/guppy35/BlueNoseC.jpg)
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Thats pretty cool Dan. The first warbird I ever head and seen was a razorback pony (I was 12 or 13). I'm now 29 and I can still hear the Merlin in my head. They truely are my favorite airplane of all time. Been working on a off-line skin just for me, kind of how I would have painted my 51 if I was around then. Something I can use for my personal practice.